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Hmm... I think the TV series has explained about the war pretty clearly already?

Oh really?

Spoiler for WARNING ->rather heavy saikano spoilers do NOT read if you didn't see it:

I'd say they hardly explained anything.
What do we know?

1. At the beginning of Saikano, the kids say they are bored because of no tv no cell phones no internet, all of these have been banned, it's a first signal something is really wrong but I think most hardly noticed it when mentioned.
2. The war begins with the air raid on Sapporo (I think it was Sapporo) by unknown troops, whoo then are taken out by Chise
3. All we know after that is that Chise is some kind of last resort weapon and that there is indeed a war taking place.
4. It is mentioned that Tokyo and Oosaka have long been destroyed.
5. We find out the enemy speaks english and that it's appears to be a war for survival of the species rather than an actual war of conquest.
6. Chise whipes out enemies by annihilating lost land.
7. in the end everyone and everything dies/is destroyed.

I may have forgotten a few things left and right but I think there are still alot of unanswered questions, not that those really bothered me since the anime was not about the war but about Chise and Shuuji's relation.

Personally I don't think they would bother with the background of the war too much, as this is more about the relationship dramas and dilemmas than the action. Since the message from the trailer and the promotions suggests that this new woman character is another ultimate weapon, I assume the story will be about her and Chise and their experiences through the war. But if anything, I think we'll still get to know more about the whole ultimate weapon business.

Spoiler for WARNING ->rather heavy saikano spoilers do NOT read if you didn't see it:

I'd say they hardly explained anything.
What do we know?

1. At the beginning of Saikano, the kids say they are bored because of no tv no cell phones no internet, all of these have been banned, it's a first signal something is really wrong but I think most hardly noticed it when mentioned.
2. The war begins with the air raid on Sapporo (I think it was Sapporo) by unknown troops, whoo then are taken out by Chise
3. All we know after that is that Chise is some kind of last resort weapon and that there is indeed a war taking place.
4. It is mentioned that Tokyo and Oosaka have long been destroyed.
5. We find out the enemy speaks english and that it's appears to be a war for survival of the species rather than an actual war of conquest.
6. Chise whipes out enemies by annihilating lost land.
7. in the end everyone and everything dies/is destroyed.

I may have forgotten a few things left and right but I think there are still alot of unanswered questions, not that those really bothered me since the anime was not about the war but about Chise and Shuuji's relation.

well, in the last couple episodes, Chise explained that

Spoiler for ending:

human history is a history of war and pollution, and after a long history of humans destroying the nature with wars and pollutions, finally Earth itself reaches its limit and is about to die. Basically there are less and less natural resources and inhabitable environments, so everyone is fighting for the last remaining resources and inhabitable living places, which depletes the resources and destroying the environments more and more, a vicious cycle that accelerates the death of the planet. So in the end the world outside of Japan becomes terrible and uninhabitable, so everyone is trying to inavde Japan for the last habitable place in the world, and in the end the only habitable place in the world is the town protected by Chise. But as people outside make a final attack on Chise's town, the planet itself at last dies, and Chise can only save Shuuji by merging her immortal body with him, thus granting him immortality so he can live on on this already dead planet.

As for the ban on TV, internet, etc. etc. it's to cut off communication to the outside world, thus hiding the fact that the entire world outside of Japan has already died and become uninhabitable, in order to prevent mass panic.

Well I remember something like that but not so detailed, I'll have to rewatch it, but I'll take your word on it, been a while too since I read the manga.and that was in french and frnech is understandable for me but not perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushi-y

Since the message from the trailer and the promotions suggests that this new woman character is another ultimate weapon, I assume the story will be about her and Chise and their experiences through the war.

Ah now that you mention it, I was under the impression that was Chise being shown, however at closer inspection the face is pretty unclear, so it might well be possible. However that makes me wonde rabout this : The "ultimate weapons" were clearly unbeatable so why did they chase afetr Chise in the end, when there would not have been a need to do so if they had multiple? Just a random thought....

Was Chise already a weapon prior to the beginning of the story, though her weapon core remaining dormant for a period of inactivity until her physical body reached a reasonable growth?

Remember in episode one when at night Shuji told Chise to meet him the same place for school. Shuji leaves, then Chise goes walking home unawared that three strangers (military) followed her afterwards.

Next morning during break, Shuji is at school's roof and Chise comes having brought juice packs. Shuji inquiries about the bandages below her knees.

Think rationally and make use of common sense.

If the JSDF turned Chise into the ultimate weapon, then how the whole bio-mechanical and surgical process took them only a single night?

Would that had taken them weeks or even months?

And how come Chise unexpectedly was chosen among all girls in town to become said weapon? coincidence, perhaps?

I assume that once the procedure was completed (fairly invasively, judging by the scars on her chest), Chise was able to regenerate the damage caused by the surgery. After all, after battles she was able to change the shape of her limbs back to normal. So it's not illogical that she could be back at school the next day.

The OVAs make it clear that the military has tried the procedure on other people before. (However, it could very well be that there is something about Chise in particular that made her more suitable for being turned into an ultimate weapon.)

This is something that people who have read the manga often complain about - Chise was already the Ultimate Weapon before the story began. I believe the manga explains the circumstances as to why this happened. (This is what I hear, as I've never read the manga myself.)

The military men that night are, presumably, just there to summon her for a military operation.

seems like i watched this a bit late.. personally i have decent amount of feeling in the tetsu scene and the ending. the part where tetsu is dying and crying seems pretty real to me.. and he tells chise to kill him but she can't do it.. loved that part. she has just vaporized 3 soldiers just outside the door.. and suddenly she is asked to comfort a dying person.. great contrast there. and the ending.. it's a decent ending in that 1. there is a decent amount of emotions 2. it's not a complete closure.. gives us some room for guessing.

is there any stuff like an interview or some official release regarding the ending tho? as much as I like to think about it, I would like to know what the real answer is. During the ending scene while Shuji is having these hallucinations the anime flashes from his fake world back to the real world where everything is grey and there is no Chise.. so from that point of view I think Shuji is indeed alive in physical form.. otherwise there is no point for the anime flashing us the reality. But if you watch closely just before the tsunami hits Shuji, when Chise tries to block the water with her body, she actually fails. Her body just shatters into part and it is shown that Shuji is swallowed by the tsunami. So.. if you see it from this piont of view.. Shuji can't be alive. Therefore I can't really conclude what really happens in the end.

Overall.. in terms of making me feel really bad over a certain period of time.. saikano certainly doesn't beat eva and haibane renmei. But again I really love the Tetsu's death part. You know what.. I think saikano would actually be 2x better if Chise is forced from time to time to fight her enemies with melee. the white light vaporization thing just gets repetitive and boring. If she could kill enemies with her bare hands and butcher them and stuff it'll add so much to this contrasting feeling thing the anime's trying to express. LOL extremity ftw

Was Chise already a weapon prior to the beginning of the story, though her weapon core remaining dormant for a period of inactivity until her physical body reached a reasonable growth?

...

And how come Chise unexpectedly was chosen among all girls in town to become said weapon? coincidence, perhaps?

i would say you answered yourself somehow ^^
there are some clues that chise wasn't the weapon prior the story. (you said most of them)
since the "technology" used on her was so advanced, it shouldn't be "that" difficult to expect it to be applied in only one night, adding the fact it's a growing weapon, which should be kinda "small" at the beginning.

by the way, i will answer at starcreator : the real issue is in the manga, we have absolutely no explanation about how/why/when did chise become the ultimate weapon. but we can certainly say that chise was pure human as the story begins.
i have just re-read the first volume, and she said clearly at the saporo raid "sorry, my body is now like this", she didn't say she was like that or such, this is also the very first attack in shuji and chise area (which proves somewhat it was recent, since chise was only able to defend at her beginning, before being able to move to other area/cities)

and finally, i really don't think that chise would be able to confess to shuji if she was already like this, since her shyness is so deep that she couldn't be able to bear the possibility of being spotted by shuji under her ultimate weapon form.

and about the choice, there isn't really any answer (the manga mentions nothing about)
i guess takahashi didn't bothered to mention about this fact, since the story was only about the 2 lovers (it also explains why he didn't mention the causes of the earth disasters and wars)
we know only the common quote from uwahara : "we didn't have the choice, it wasn't anyone's fault, nor hers, nor yours or ours"

i knew from its reputation that it is a good tragic story...and i have to agree ~ and i finally got around to watching it...

wow...even though it shows some extremes into war on the whole its pretty realistic...people die and get hurt just the same way...one minute you are there and the next you could be blown to pieces...such cruelty

i duno what to think now...i still need time for it to sink in what just happened...so i take it that chise brought about the apocalypse except for shuji ~ so hes living in a dream together with chise...man its really painful that they know that its a dream as well...watching shuji patting thin air hurts >.< but i guess thats a small miracle has spwned from their love...

i could feel the pain that shuji must have had to see his friends die one by one...the feeling of being unable to do anything must have suxed...

overall its pretty complex...but still the true ending is there...all they needed was love ~

i blame those stupid humans...whats with the whole war? seriously their brains must be non exsistant...to have a war that pushed in into an apocalypse is just stupid...and to think...that they can actually win against chise...fools T_T

seriously if you think about WW2 and think about the A-bomb i can imagine chise being compared to it...you dont see the japs continue fighting with the A-bomb blew up a whole city...you should know when to quit and just surrender to the consequences...way better than going head first into a lose-lose situation...

ahh well...i must again say that this is a really good classic tale of love and death...im getting that feeling again where a hammer has just whacked you on the chest...and i know...time heals all wounds *cheers to chise and shuji!*

seriously i feel everything u said about this anime... this was unbelievable depressing, yet truly beautiful. And the ending with him being the only human alive and her still existing as a consciousness was so heartbreaking, yet fulfilling. I love this anime so much. Love and War have never been contrasted and illustrated on celluloid so beautifully....

__________________

Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent -- Ayn Rand/Terry Goodkind

Finaly got around to watch this. Hm...what to say... it was quite an interesting story with rather big plotholes here and there, but overall pretty good. One thing it completely failed at - sqeezing emotions out of me.

I can fully understand the painful and dramatic experiences the characters had to go trough, but i can't bring myself to care about the characters. I wanted to get a heavy dose of depression while watching this (i was told it is more depressing than Air ... it is not even close imo), but that never came. I was trying to care about the characters, but failed at that.

While the events happening to all the characters were tragic and simply sad... it didn't do much to me. The characters were mostly way underdeveloped for me to care about them.

I think the main fault of Saikano is that it tries too much to be tragic. A more subtle approach would work better imo... it was trying to force a whirlpool of tragical events down my throat, which didn't work too well. The fact that the deaths that happened were amazingly predictable didn't help either.

In short - it fails to be tragic by trying too much to achieve that.

The last episode was made of pure WTFness... sure, it was an original ending, but it felt out of place for me. It came too sudden and out of nowhere. Also nothing is explained how Chise became the ultimate weapon.

The character design was rather horrible imo.

Overall a pretty decent show with an original story, but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Based on it's reputation i was expecting more, especialy in the dramatic side. Saikano was definitely a good watch, but it is overrated imo.
*shrugs* 6/10 in my book

this is normal : it wasn't answered in the manga either.
in the postface of the manga, takahashi explained he wanted to give the most attention to the relationship between chise and shuji. granted the plotholes are somewhat annoying, but in the other way, the author managed to keep the story around the 2 protagonists.

in fact, takashi said that "how" "why" and "when" chise became the weapon weren't the matter at all. (just like why/how/when did humanity breach such limits to cause earth that kind of disaster)

Quote:

The character design was rather horrible imo.

well the anime is kinda old (2002 IIRC) but the anime chara design was really great because : it was a fantastic copy of the original manga design.
while indeed it is not conventionnal, give it a try : the manga seems to be done with roughs, but the lines are just emotionnal.

unfortunately, there is no way to reproduct this kind of style in the anime. but gonzo did a good job i believe.

Quote:

Overall a pretty decent show with an original story, but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Based on it's reputation i was expecting more, especialy in the dramatic side. Saikano was definitely a good watch, but it is overrated imo.
*shrugs* 6/10 in my book

you can't really excpect much of some sad story if you are prepared for some "things ^^;
the sad thing is : the anime didn't have much choice except to increase the drama emphasis around the deaths and all, since with such tiny amount of episode, there was NO way to depict every thought of shuji and chise (in fact, they skipped chise inner thoughts, just like DEEN did for shion in higurashi ~~)

read the manga, without any expectation or judgement, it would be something different (well, that's how i feel )

yea sometimes preparing for the worse causes high expectations that doesnt quite hit home well the the ova did do a little bit of explaining to why chise was chosen to become the ultimate weapon...basically it was because her body was suitable to become the ultimate weapon how even in 9 hell did they find that out was beyond me

but seriously i think it could have been anybody and chise was just at the wrong place at the wrong time ~

Though, it's still quite questionable as to why they chose Chisa... I mean, she's weak, a crybaby. Maybe they didn't know at that time, but seriously they would have been better off with someone else...

__________________

"Light and shadow don't battle each other, because they're two sides of the same coin"

Well, that's probably because you got too much information. The same happened to me and KGNE. I've heard all sorts of things, I was expecting pure dramatic genius and although I could see how dramatic things really were, I wasn't touched that much when watching it.

I don't remember what I had heard about Saikano prior to watching it, but all sorts of emotions came up when I was watching, mainly frustration at the characters (in the sense of "WTH are you doing?!"). It was so terribly depressing that I haven't watched it ever since (like an eroge I played some years ago, for the same reasons).

Of course, people are different anyway, so, unless someone comes out and says that the whole things was utter crap (which wasn't), I can understand the different views. Although I must admit, I was put off by the animation that I closed ep 1 after 10 secs and some time passed before I decided to watch the whole series

I was put off by the animation that I closed ep 1 after 10 secs and some time passed before I decided to watch the whole series

Lol, true dat - actualy i watched ep1 three or so months ago, but i disliked the animation so much i dropped it(only time i have dropped a series based on the animation mainly)

Well, i don't think knowing things ( i really didn't know anything besides it being considered tragic) can ruin anything that much. I knew a hell lot more about Air before i watched it, but it still managed to get me misty-eyed one or two times. Never happened here. But then again i am hardly an emotional person

Like one other guy in this thread, I just saw it all at once. I hate crying, and am physically unable to in real-life circumstances. In spite of this, a rare anime gets the better of me, this is one.

Sure there are a lot of problems (feels fake or overdone/underdone) and can piss you off, but truly, if you have a sense of imagination you can overlook and overwrite these flaws.

--> Has any of you seen "Brothers in Arms"?
(As a Jew, Spielberg financed it, under the instructions to "make a historically correct series about World War II and research the soldiers, so the stories of the characters are coherently as correct as possible.")
Just like “Saving Private Ryan", just 100x worse. It was too realistic for me, especially because... (duh) these things happened.

Although I never cried over it, for me, it was one of the most painful and excruciating things to watch. In the midst of utter hopelessness, the soldiers had to find a reason to live on, with sometimes a vague sense of hope. Everybody kept dying, no better then a dead cat in the gutters. It really made me feel appreciative that Hitler didn’t win the war, not for the typical I-am-from-California-Hollywood-and-blond reasons, but because he functioned as a source to this empty hopelessness. Even see that the Germens back then had it hard with him. It is this feeling that really gets me.

For me, the feelings surrounding the anime are somewhat the same, as they have many of the same themes. This is probably why the anime saddend me to such an extent.